Lord Jesus, please remove the many blindness I have in myself that prevent me from seeing you from understanding you from following you.
Please remove that one particular blindness in me about temptations: they do not come from God nor God wills anyone of us to be tempted; temptations come from deep within each one of us!
No one experiencing temptation should say, “I am being tempted by God;” for God is not subject to temptation to evil, and he himself tempts no one. Rather, each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his desire. Then desire conceives and brings forth sins, and when sin reaches maturity it gives birth to death.
James 1:13-15
Thank for this clarification and reminder by St. James that temptations originate from one's self in three stages: desires, sins, death. Please open my eyes, Jesus, enlighten my mind, my heart and my soul to see the sources of evil in me to see where these are leading me.
At the same time, Lord, let me count my blessings too at how "God willed to give us birth by the word of truth that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures" (James 1:18).
Open my eyes, dear Jesus, remove my many blindness like your apostles who readily jumped into conclusions and missed your whole point about hypocrisies of the Pharisees, thinking you were worried with their lack of bread, totally forgetting how you have multiplied bread twice to feed thousands.
Sometimes too, we are so blinded with our high regard for ourselves, seeing more ourselves that we no longer look at you nor see you as our sole sole reference in everything and everyone. Amen.
